Back then, the typical apartment rented out to foreigners was "500 sq.ft." but there was a large variance in peoples' conception of what 500 sq.ft. was :-). There were also a lot of rules about how apartment size was supposed to be calculated but landlords usually did it from outside the walls, not inside, so you lost a bit of usable space due to the thickness of the walls :roll:. It really hit home how nuts it all was when a landlady was showing me around an apartment and discovered that a post, about 2 feet square, was hollow and she was so pleased because she could now build a little cubby shelf inside it

I paid about USD $1000/month for a slightly run-down 500 sq.ft. apartment and that was a pretty good price. At that time, Hong Kong was going through a real estate boom bubble and I remember one news headline proudly announcing that a downtown building site had sold for USD $130,000 per square meter :o. Prices have since collapsed and a lot of people have lost their shirts and more because of it.

Awasu and the stylized Japanese character in the orange box are trademarks of Awasu Pty. Ltd. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Awasu Pty. Ltd. believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date. Such information is subject to change without notice. Awasu Pty. Ltd. is not responsible for inadvertent errors.